Thursday 26th June

Thursday, 26 June 2025 01:00

By Steve Haigh

Thousands more music fans will arrive at Worthy Farm for the start of Glastonbury Festival. The government has granted Somerset Council a stay of execution, allowing it to defer a spending deficit on special needs education. A party has been held to mark the 100th birthday of a Somerset woman who has lived in the same house for 100 years...and more.

Roads around the Shepton Mallet area will again be extra busy with traffic today as thousands more music fans arrive at Worthy Farm for the start of Glastonbury Festival. Meanwhile, Great Western Railway is providing an extra 37,000 seats on trains to Castle Cary. It's designed to persuade festival-goers to ditch their cars and travel instead by rail. According to GWR, some of the artists performing at Glastonbury, including Sam Ryder, have travelled to Somerset by train.

Plans have been outlined to reopen The George in Ilminster. The bar is seeking a licence variation to allow it to sell alcohol and put on live music. The application is currently with Somerset Council awaiting a decision. Owners of The George say it's their 'one last chance' to get the historic bar open and be financially viable.

The government has granted Somerset Council a stay of execution, allowing it to defer a spending deficit on special needs education for a further two years. Demand for specialist education has soared in recent years, with the deficit at the council for special education expected to exceed £100m by April next year. Leader of Somerset Council, Bill Revan, says without the override, the authority would have been pushed closer to effective bankruptcy.

A campervan has been destroyed in a fire at Yarcombe near Chard. Concerned residents called the fire service to report flames coming from the vehicle and a hedgerow on fire. Crews from Honiton and Chard used hose reel jets, breathing apparatus, and a thermal imaging camera to extinguish the blaze.

A party has been held to mark the 100th birthday of a Somerset woman who has lived in the same house for 100 years. Phyliss Marshall was born at the property in Bucklands near Bridgwater in 1925 and says, despite many changes in her life, she never thought about leaving the house.

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